Genesis Through Revelation Part 6
...Good and Evil
By AnimeLuva1
Dark Ages...CAM
Chrono didn't wake up to the sunshine on his face, instead it was the dirt floor from God-knows-where. He shook the dirt off his hair, yawning and stretching as he searched for the others. They were wide awake, clean, well-fed and ready for battle. "Why do you guys wake up so early?"
"Hurry up and get dressed, lazy-boy." Marle suggested, handing Chrono a newly bought Demon Edge "WE FIGHT!" Ayla shouted, grinning in anticipation.
"Fight?..." Chrono asked, waking up at the sound of his second favorite word (next to food). He rubbed his eyes, gazing at his new weapon. "Sugoi da yo!" he cheered, ready to run off until he heard the sound of his stomach. He began to blush, a sheepish grin spreading across his face.
Marle shook her head while placing her hands on her hips. "Some things never change..."
Neka whistled. She heard either the greatest story or strangest lie she ever heard. "Y'all should write a book while you're at it." she commented. "But it does clear up the idea of Lavos..." she trailed off. The robot, Robo, from a time where that legendary creature DID appear, DID bring armageddon, and ended everything she fought for. That thought made her shiver.
"Ojiisan wa?" Sono called. The old man grunted, "Demo...How come only 3 can go through the pillars 'n stuff?"
"Even time has its limits, young...*yawn* child." he answered, beginning to fall asleep.
"Well, you need the pendant to go wherever you want, right?" Neka wondered. The old man nodded. "Well, I have one," she held it up for all to see.
The old man made a coughing sound. "Who gave you that?" "Schala-san, why?" The man coughed again. "No wonder I felt so much energy around you, a great magician gave that to you. She taught you, right?" "H-h-hai." "You and your young friend go to the room behind me, the man there'll help you amplify your powers."
Neka grinned widely, bowed, and stormed through the door nearby.
"Ayla can't breathe," she choked, feeling the air pressure tightening her lungs.
"We'll stay here for a few minutes, Ayla-san," Chrono suggested, "we have to get used to this thin air." He did his best to look through the mist around them, finding only rocks and the occasional spot of grass. He began to sit down, when he swore he heard something. He looked over his shoulder, seeing only more mist. He shrugged and sat correctly. A caw came from above, and the strange laugh of an imp was echoing.
"I am the great Spekkio, the god of WAR!" the large blue creature said proudly.
Neka made a face, still not believing the story.
Spekkio mumbled to himself(?) before speaking up. "So you're the new members of the team, ne?" he asked, receiving a pair of nods, "Well then, let me see what I can do for you two, hey that rhymes! Anyway, you, young lady, were trained by a great mage. Thus, you should be honored in having the purest form of magic. So we'll just call you a 'Light' magician, shall we? And you, kid, you've got a lot'ta potential. Since you look a lot like the punk rocker, you have 'Lightning' magic, all right?
"Now there is a difference between 'Light' and 'Lightning.' 'Light,' you can say it's 'Holy' magic...think of light and dark, ne? 'Lightning' is an elemental attack, which I believe you are familiar with. But enough talking." He(?) waved his hands and started a strange dance. "Presto...chang-o...MAGIC-O!!!"
The words were too corny for her sake, but it definately worked. She never felt so full of energy in her life. It showed so much her pendant was spreading its aura all over her midsection. She vaguely heard a challenge from Spekkio, and she, never turning down an offer, nodded.
Chrono sucked in all the extremely thin air his lungs could take. The stone-like enemies have too big an advantage over him and the rest of his team. But there was no turning back now. For the new weapons and items he promised to take out the monsters in and around the flying mountain.
Marle cursed herself for being so weak. It was only a small battle, but she was already covered with cuts and bruises. While her mind said to press on, her body said the exact opposite. "Marle?" Ayla gave a concerned look, "hurt bad?"
She shook her head, but her eyes betrayed her. Her elbows HURT!
Chrono searched his bag, finding the well-worn Gate Key. He held it up in the mountain air, watching it form a pillar of light in front of him. "Go back, Marle-san, you need the rest." his eyes told her.
Marle, reluctantly, nodded. Having her extremely weak during a battle wasn't going to help save time. She took a deep breath, and she stepped in, releaved already.
"Not bad for rookies," he praised, "Here, have this: Spekkio's Graceful Set!"
A brown potato bag landed on top of Sono's head, temporarily knocking him unconcious. Neka searched the bag. Three mochi-like foods or tablets, red, blue, and green. Ten corked glass containers filled with almost glowing orange liquid. She thanked Spekkio for the gift set. She began for the door with the half-awake Sono in tow. "And don't forget, I AM the GOD OF WAR!" the creature yelled behind her. Neka shook her head and closed the door.
"Marle-san!" Lucca gasped, helping her friend up from the floor.
"Is the poor lass well?" Frog croaked, showing looks of concern.
Robo scanned her carefully, making sure not to add Lucca to his data. "She is fatigued," he reported, "she will need to lie down and sleep a while." He picked up his patient, and walked to a corner where a blue-white light glowed.
He watched the moving mass of metal tend to the Royal Family member, then turned to Lucca. "Who amongst us shall continue this trek?" he questioned.
"We will." Neka replied hoarsly. The attention suddenly turned to her. "So how does time traveling work, Lucca-san?" She found herself holding her pendant.
"Only a minute passed, Ayla..." Chrono reminded her, rolling his eyes.
The pillar seemed to sway a bit, then suddenly turned bright. Chrono and Ayla covered their eyes for a few seconds. When they put their hands down, where the pillar of light was was now a teenage girl and a pre-adolescent boy.
"Neka-san? Sono-kun?" Chrono mumbled in disbelief.
"Who new people?" Ayla grunted.
Sono made a face at Ayla. No one ever told him a neandrethal was in the adventure. "Who are you?" he retorted.
"Boy have yucky mouth," she commented, crossing her arms.
"Ayla-san, this is Sono and Neka. Lucca, Marle, and I met them when we first tried out the Epoch. After we left, they might have accidentaly opened a gate during their time." Chrono explained.
Ayla pondered, then slowly nodded.
"So, oh fearless leader," Neka spoke sarcastically, "where to?"
Chrono glared at her for a few seconds, then pointed to a dark, densely foggy region high above them.
"Let's climb then!" she shouted, racing up an almost vertical pathway.
Only a few hours into the journey and he was bored of it. It's just more climbing and harder breathing, except for the occasional goblin or bird-thing here and there. But he knew if he whined about it, he'll receive a beating worse than what any of the things here can give him. So, he continued silently.
"Almost there...." Neka told herself, making sure her earthy support won't break down on her. One thing's for sure: it was getting a hell of a lot darker. Hopefully those giant birds won't come back with a few of its friends this time.
Chrono reached up, finding himself groping semi-smooth rock. He lifted himself up, realizing he could stand on solid ground at last. He looked from the pinnacle of Mt. Woe, seeing only dense fog as far as the eye can see. "That's a pretty big jump," he mumbled to himself.
"Cold blue thing here," Ayla showed, pointing to a huge block of ice.
Neka studied the ice/crystal, seeing something dark near its center. "Something's in it," she mentioned, showing Sono what she was talking about.
Sono sighed and looked around. "So we climbed for nothin'." he said bitterly. "I wish we could fight soon," he continued, sitting down on the spot where he was standing. Neka grunted, luckily not giving him a punch to the jaw.
Ayla was about to touch the glass-like surface when it suddenly vanished. "Where thing go?!" she nearly shouted, her eyes darting.
A laugh began to echo. As the sound became louder, it sounded more like a primal scream. When it was enough to ring their ears, it was a screech. The noise stopped. They looked at each other, then looked around. Two figures were at their left and their right. Something close enough to breathing originated from high above. They looked in that direction, finding a large, bat-like face almost smiling back at them.
"SPREAD OUT!!!" Chrono almost ordered, drawing his blade.
Neka began to dash to one side and was smacked down by a huge hand. She glared coldly at it. Then, out of rage, she began her "Beat Down" attack. Using all of her power, she managed to pummel the oversized hand into the ground. When she evaded another attempted slap, a red flash of light blinded her, then started piercing her like a million little needles slowly twisting their way into her body.
"THAT HURT!!!" he barked at it. With Masamune in hand, he boarded off one of the creature's hands, almost flying up to the dark heavens. In a sun orange streak he came down on the bat's massive forehead, blue-green blood beginning to drip down its face. With a jerk, he pulled his Masamune out of its skull and nearly crashed into the floor.
"CHRONO! GIVE AYLA LIGHT!!!"
"Sure will!" he replied. He clenched his fists for a moment, then threw his hands in the air. He floated off the air for a moment, then focused his energy on Ayla. A flash of light surrounded her, and somehow went through every pore of her skin. Ten seconds after that, the booms of thunder popped everyone's ears. Ayla roared the Ioka call of challenge, proceeding to leap towards a nearby hand and bit, clawed, scratched, and kicked with everything the energy boost gave her. When she finally stopped her rampage, she licked her lips clean of the creature's blood.
Chrono searched his pouch for elixirs, finding himself empty of any. One of the creature's hands smacked him to the floor. He glared into the bat's eyes, the effects of the rage band taking over. He unseathed his blade, and charged in a screaming fury. In one blink he was up in the air, in another, he slahed an X on his enemy's chin.
As soon as Chrono cleared off, Neka and Ayla seemed to fly upwards. Each kicked a nearby eye. The creature howled and whimpered in pain. Soon, Sono followed, slashing it as if he were a samurai. When they touched solid ground, they crouched into their defensive postures.
Chrono wouldn't admit it, but he was beginning to get sick of this. He had to go through this to see what was in a big block of ice. His friends were down, he was fatigued, he was PISSED. He charged, then with all of his strength slashed the snout of the creature, then the forehead, cut off part of its ear, and sink his blade into the open neck injury. He smiled with satisfaction as the creature screamed to be rid of its pain and misery.
"CHRONO-SAN!!! WATCH OUT!!!" Sono warned, but was too little, too late. He watched as a enormous bloody hand wrap its clawed fingers around Chrono. Sono felt his side ache as Chrono screamed to be let go, as if he felt the pain as well. "Yamette..." he choked, his voice masking his soon-to-be-revealed wrath. "Yamette....YAMETTE IMASU!" He lead the charge this time, valiantly attempting to slice the monster's hand off, only to be swatted away like a fly.
"Boy!" Ayla gasped, catching the thrown and battered child. "Boy okay?" She received a groan. She cooed and hummed to him as if he were her child. When she felt he relaxed, she pressed her lips lightly on his wounded forehead. The boy seemed to jump, sitting up and blinking at her in surprise. "What was that for?" he asked. Ayla laughed, involuntarily slapping the boy hard on his shoulder. "Always made Kino better," she winked.
"You heard what the brat said!!!" Neka growled, hitting the wrist with every kick and knee combination she could think of. It made a shrieking laugh at her attempts, squeezing Chrono out of his existence. Neka noticed something equivalent to a vein appearing. As always, she half smiled to herself for her genius. She stepped back, forcing herself to calm down with Zeal's Mantra. She cupped her pendant by its golden backing, pointing it to the direction of the wrist. She ground her teeth together from all her concentration. The sound of wind caressed her ear, and she smiled for the imminent victory.
A mix between a buzz and a hum came from almost every direction. A loud crack, and the sudden darkness of the sky. From high above, a blue-green dot was seen, gradually growing in size until it was slightly larger than a softball. The dot was a ray of blue-green light, embedding itself inside its target as soon as it impacted. Another came from behind, the next to its left, then the right, finally from directly above it. The pain, oh great Queen of Zeal the PAIN!!! Such a throbbing headache. An almost slowly burning heart. Every pore and cell felt like it was going to explode!!!
"Ojii-san!!!" Sono called, tackling Chrono down to the floor.
It screached its final creech, and a burst of blue-white light radiated for what felt like hours.
.